The Bank of Greece prints banknotes at IETA, its printing works and mint at Holargos on the edge of Athens. The plant produces the Greek allocation of euro banknotes and remains in service in the Europa series.
| Country | Greece |
|---|---|
| Printing site | Athens, Holargos (IETA) |
| First-series printer letter | N |
| Europa-series printer letter | Y |
| Europa-series control number | 1 |
| Status | Active |
The Bank of Greece on Panepistimiou Street in Athens. Its printing works, IETA, stands at Holargos on the edge of the city.
A works born just before the war
IETA was established by a decision of the Bank’s General Council in June 1938, with the task of designing and printing Greek banknotes rather than ordering them from foreign printers. The buildings at Holargos were finished in 1941, but the occupation and its aftermath meant that regular production only started in 1947 after extensive repairs.
By 1950 the Bank could report that the plant matched the standards of other European issuing houses. It printed drachma notes until the changeover and moved on to the euro without a break in operation, adding coin production at the same site.
Letters N and Y
In the first series the Athens works carried the printer letter N. In the Europa series it became Y, with control number 1. As with every euro plant, the letter records where a sheet was manufactured and says nothing about which national central bank issued the note.
IETA also runs the National Mint, so Holargos is one of the few euro-area sites where banknote and coin production sit side by side.
Reading the code on a note
The production code on a Europa-series note printed in Athens begins with Y. It is printed separately from the serial number and continues with the plate number and the position of the note within its sheet; the complete grammar is set out in printing offices and printer codes.
